That’s not exactly the case here, Sherana. There is a large outline drawing taped to the back of this, which is how I often work on detailed ink drawings such as this one. I use a light table so I can see the outline beneath. This prevents me from having to draw pencil lines that I will later have to erase. All of the modeling here is free hand absed on the photo that I have in front of me for reference.
I do like this slow reveal of the drawing as it progresses, which is why I didn’t show the preliminary drawing earlier. I may make a post later of that when I’m done.